For Luck
by MistressSara
Summary: Paintball is a fierce game. Abed and Annie get pinned down... Jeff isn't quite sure what he witnessed. But he knows that he doesn't like it. R&R please.


Title: For Luck

Author: Mistress Sara

Disclaimer: I own a whole lot of nothing.

LJ M/M prompt: Before the group goes on a "last stand" of some sort against City College, Abed kisses Annie, intending to make it a reference to some famous movie moment. Jeff sees this, and he gets jealous. A fight between him and Annie (with poor Abed in the middle) ensues, eventually leading to Jeff confessing his real feelings for Annie.

Annie and Abed were pinned down, separated from the rest of the group… well what was left of the group… basically the group just consisted of Abed, Annie, Troy, and Jeff at this point. Britta had been ambushed, a trap set using a rescued kitten left alone in the middle of the chemistry lab. Shirley had to get home to the baby and allowed herself to be taken out. Pierce was still on the lamb, but whether or not he was still in the game hadn't been determined.

"Annie, there's only one way out of here."

"What's that?" Annie asked, shooting yet another trooper as he approached their hiding spot in the stair well of the second floor. The door behind them was barricaded, the stairs leading down were blocked, upstairs led them further into the unknown. If they could just get back to the dean's office, they could hold up with enough paintballs to last this fight out.

"I have a grappling hook in my belt." Abed said in a rather nonchalant tone as he took the next thug down.

"What?" She asked, ducking down as a paintball flew over her head. "Why do you have a grappling hook with you?"

"I always have a grappling hook with me."

"But we're in the western theme."

"Then consider me Artemus Gordon."

"Kevin Kline or Ross Martin?"

"You know the TV show?"

"My grandpa was a fan," Annie explained, pushing Abed out of the way before sniping a low approaching goon. "We would watch episodes when he was in the nursing home."

"Annie, I have never found a woman more attractive as I find you right now." He informed her in his usual emotionless tone.

"Aww, thank you, Abed."

"Get down." He pulled her to the ground, before gazing up at the top of the stairs. The nook was shadowy, he couldn't make out any actual shape, but Abed could tell… someone was nearby… approaching them from the top. Quickly he pulled the collapsible grappling hook from his belt and took the coil of rope from his arm to attach to the device. "You still have the orange gun?"

"Sure do. What're you thinking?"

"It's only a matter of time till they start coming from above…" Abed paused, listening for something. He strained his hearing, something fell followed by footsteps. Oh yeah, something was coming. "They may already be on their way. Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to attach the hook to the rail, the other end tied around me. We'll climb down, I'll hold on to you, you shoot at anyone who might come along. Got it?"

"Abed, that sounds a little dangerous."

"But incredible."

"Well, that too." She looked at him for a moment before clutching the orange and black zebra striped paintball gun. "Lets do it."

"When this is all over we should hang out."

"Totally."

_Creak _

They both looked up, someone was definitely watching them. Abed fastened the rope around his middle and adjusted the grappling hook so that it was secure.

"Ready?" Abed asked, doing one last perimeter check, glancing beneath them and above to make sure they were clear.

"One thing." Annie leaned in and gave Abed a kiss. It wasn't necessarily a platonic kiss, but it wasn't gushing with romance and desire either. Her lips lingered against his, waiting for his delayed reaction, which finally came. Abed did the first thing he thought one of the guys from Young Guns or James West would've done, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer before dipping her back slightly.

"For luck." She smiled when they pulled apart, Abed's arms still wrapped around her.

"For luck?" Echoed a voice from above them. "That's what you do for luck?"

"Jeff?" Annie called to the voice that had startled them completely apart. "Have you been spying on us?"

"Observing." He said, emerging from the shadows and moving towards the pair. "What the hell, Abed?"

"Hey, this isn't his fault. I kissed him."

"After he asked you to hang out."

"Jeff, you can't do this anymore."

"Can't do what?"

"You can't ignore me, screw around with Britta, and then storm in and ruin everything as soon as I start making plans with another guy. It doesn't work like that!"

"That's not what I'm doing. And why do you care if I iwas/i sleeping with Britta?"

"The same reason you care that I wanted to go out with Rich or was dating Vaughn or that Abed wants to hang out with me. I told you before, either you want me or you don't, but you've got to make up your mind. I'm not going to sit around and wait for you to get over whatever your list of reasons why we shouldn't be together."

"Interesting…" Abed muttered, watching the two with a great deal of intensity, occasionally looking away to shoot any approached assailant.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't. Until you do, I'm going to Abed. And after the game you can find me in his dorm. Should you suddenly figure out what it is I'm talking about." She picked up the orange gun again, finger on the trigger. "Lets go, Abed."

"Jeff, man to man?" Abed said, approaching his friend carefully. "Do you honestly not see how awesome Annie is and how crazy she is about you?" He paused, "Wow… I just became the best friend in a romantic comedy. Weird. Lets get back to Star Wars. Annie, lets fly."

Jeff stood in a state of shock, watching as Annie and Abed climbed over the railing and slowly disappeared from view.

"What the hell just happened?" Jeff asked himself. Before he could get his mind back into the game something hit him square in the chest. "I'm in love with her."

The feeling in his chest spread.

"I have been for a while. That's why…"

Another pang in the chest, glancing down he realized that his sexy blue, cowboy shirt was splattered with paint.

"Sorry, Jeff! I didn't realize that was you!" Troy apologized, coming the rest of the way down the stairs.

"Oh, that's okay." Jeff raised his gun and shot Troy.

"Dude! This costume is a rental!"

"Well this shirt cost $97."

"Who pays that much for a shirt and then wears it to paintball?"

"I wasn't planning on paintball today."

"What do we do now?" Troy asked, throwing his guns down.

"We wait for this to be over."

_An hour later_

The campus was destroyed. Paint covered almost every surface, flowers had been trampled, the dean looked like he was a walking Jackson Pollock painting. Jeff wasn't sure what happened, but Annie, Abed, and Troy some how managed to get completely covered in orange paint. He remained seated at the bench outside of the dorms, watching the award ceremony unfold.

He watched as Abed high-fived Annie and did his weird little handshake with Troy. He watched Annie as she and Pierce walked away from their little group. The two spoke for a few minutes before he pulled her into a fierce hug. Pierce must've gotten Annie back on his side. She looked around the quad before noticing him. Jeff waved and she nodded before approaching him.

"What happened to you?" Jeff asked, eyeing the paint a little closer.

"Explosion of paint."

Both paused, waiting for the other to say something. In the end they spoke at the same time.

"It's going to take forever to get this paint out of my hair."

"I love you."

"What?"

"I love you. As a friend and probably as more. I get ridiculously jealous, even if it's something as harmless as a good luck kiss with Abed, and I'm worried that if we go out on a date someone is going to tell me what a beautiful daughter I have." He quickly confided without stopping to take a breath.

"No one would ever mistake me for you daughter. Not with the way we look at each other." Jeff smiled, taking her paint covered hand and pulling her into his lap.

"Oh no?"

"I'm going to cover you with paint." She warned, realizing that the orange paint covering her was still wet.

"Worth it." He smirked before pulling her into a very different kiss than the one she shared with Abed. "Besides, I have a really strong showerhead. You're welcome to use it."

"Whaaaat? Is that Annie and Jeff?" Troy asked, walking up behind Abed, who was watching the scene with a hint of pride.

"Leia and Han."

"Nice." The two did their secret handshake again. "Where's your grappling hook?"

"I think I left it in the stairwell. Troy, it was just like in New Hope."

"That is so awesome!" The two walked away. "You always manage to have an awesome adventure."

"Also I kissed Annie." Abed continued to walk, leaving Troy flabbergasted in his wake. Staring at his friend Troy almost detected a slight swagger. "You are so Skywalker!"


End file.
